After pressing Get Started in the blue box as seen above, you have two different options. If you are brand new to photo organizing on a Mac and have never used iPhoto or Aperture before, (or if you don’t want to migrate your iPhoto or Aperture library to Photos), you have the option to import pictures from your digital camera or SD card, drag files directly into Photos, import pictures from the File menu or turn on iCloud Photo Library under preferences.
If you were previously using iPhoto or Aperture, after clicking Getting Started, it detects your iPhoto and Aperture libraries. Select which library you want to use with Photos.
Once you select the library, it presents the option to set up iCloud Photo Library, Apple’s iCloud-based photo and video syncing and storage service. This will allow you to sync all the Photos from your Mac and iOS device to each of your other devices, keeping your edits and albums in sync. It then starts to prepare your library to transition to Photos. If you are not sure about putting all of your pictures into iCloud Photo Library, you can always set that up later under Photos’s Preferences from the menu bar; it’s optional and never required unless you want automatic, cloud-based syncing.
Your old photo libraries will still stay on your Mac if you decide you want to use iPhoto or Aperture for doing something. One might still want to use Aperture because it is a lot more advanced with support for plug-ins and more for professional photographers, with powerful editing tools and built-in support to use external editors. However, if you make any changes in those libraries, they will not automatically sync over to your new Photo library.
Most of the data from iPhoto and Aperture will transfer to the Photos app. For example, Faces is still the same. Also, if you were using star ratings, flags and color labels in iPhoto and Aperture, they are still around in Photos, but they are now keywords and assigned to the photos. You’ll notice your Events from your previous photo library is organized alongside albums in the new Photos app preserving your organization.
That is how you move your iPhoto or Aperture library to the new Photos app. If you haven’t done so, make sure you set up iCloud Photo Library on your iOS device. Let us know if you have moved your library from iPhoto or Aperture to Photos and what your impressions are in the comments!


After migrating to Photos I have one additional folder called “Photos 2015.photoslibrary_prepare”. Anyone else seen this, can i delete it?
My suspicion is that since I have my photo libraries in a subfolder to standard Picture folder and also that its not named as standard this is a bug in the migration process. If it had been all standard this folder would automatically been deleted after the migration was finished.
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Hi! Did you manage to find out about that file? I have the same thing, “Photos Library.photoslibrary_prepare” and its taking up 130gb of my hard drive!!
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some of the photos would not migrate. I got an error message saying the “metadata was missing”
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I see the following libraries – Aperture 3 Library.aplibrary, iPhoto Library, APTS Aperture3 Library.aplibary, and APTS iPhoto Library. What does APTS mean? Also I thought I had merged the iphoto library with the Aperture library, so why am I seeing two choices here? Or does it matter which I select? Want to be careful here as I think Photos can only use one library.
Thanks,
Mark
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How about the reverse? If I migrated to photos, and then want to move back to Aperture. The reason being that iPhone sync now does not show an option to sync with Aperture.
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Try File > Export
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Photos got moved from Aperture but none of the text boxes that were part of an album I was building. And ow no way to go back to Aperture as I get an error message about needing to upgrade but then the Ap Store not letting me. What a bummer!
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I ran into the same problem. It is a bummer…a lot of lost work.
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Hello
I have uncheck’d copy photos to library in the preferences, but it still copying and photo’s app becomes more than 20 GB and its keep on increasing if i add photo’s . how to resolve this.
Many Thanks
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Set up Photos and turned on iCloud photo library on iPhone, iPad and iMac. My library is about 300 GB. It has been 4 days and iCloud Photo Library on my iMac says updating with no progress shown on status bar. Anyone have this issue? How long have others had their libraries take to upload?
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Mine is nearly that bog…around 200 go and it migrated quickly.. Like in minutes.
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Now in my third day of uploading >16,000 No progress on status bar and no storage space use on my iCloud for which I am paying $13 per month!
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Whoopee! After another 2 hours a few hundred have uploaded – Only 15,900 to go so at this rate it will be done in 333 days if I let it go 24/7 but of course I cannot because it slows my home wifi too much for my wife, grandson and me to put up with.
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Apologies to Apple my maths is way off – Actually will take only another 2-3 days at this rate.
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No uploads for last 15 hours – Maybe my first estimate was correct!
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I can not open my iPhoto anymore… it says the version is not compatible with OS X Yosemite and I need to download the latest version for free from the Mac App Store. In the Mac App Store it says: “The item you’ve requested is not currently available in the Dutch Store”….. HOW CAN I GET TO MY PHOTO’S??????
I can not move them to Photos cause it says I don’t have enough space….. HELP!
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You may need to move the iPhoto library to an external drive then from there try importing to Photos.
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I have the same problem and I am in the USA. Problem is, there is no file named “iphoto library”. Any suggestions? I can’t find my pictures with the exception of a handful. Very upset to say the least.
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How do I get back to the “Choose Library” option once I’ve dismissed it? I’m starting with a fresh install and manually moving from my old computer. I’ve tried File > Import but that doesn’t let me select my Aperture library.
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Hold the OPTION key down when you boot Photos to choose library
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THANK YOU!!! 🙂
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I downloaded the new version of OS X without knowing that I would lose all my photos. I was just trying to get Safari to work again!! Now I have the new version and Aperture won’t open and I fear all of my lifetime’s worth of photos are gone. Including my wedding photos. HELP
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Have you figured anything out? I have a similar issue, but with Iphoto.
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That happened to me. With the help of our computer tech at work, I got them back.What he had me do is move aperture to the trash, make sure it isn’t in the applications folder yet, either. Then go into the app store and go under purchases. With aperture in the trash, it should give you the option of down loading it again. And when I opened up the newly downloaded Aperture–They were there!!!! I hope this can help!
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How i can import videos from iPhoto to iMovie?
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Can I delete my iPhoto library and the iPhoto software now that Apple is going to Photos and I have transferred my library? I don’t need to 250gb libraries and 2 memory gulping programs!
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I would like to know about this too Nancy. I have everything backed up and would like to delete one set of libraries.
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Just found the answer. Basically the pictures are stored in only one place and they use previews of to view in the other software. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204476 and http://recode.net/2015/04/24/too-embarrassed-to-ask-apples-new-photos-app/
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can you delete the photos on your phone after importing them to your computer using icloud? or are they like connected to icloud so if you delete them theyre gone forever?
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I hate photos. Bring back iPhoto. Can’t make folders, can’t move anything. I am wanting to ditch apple altogether and get a nice program through microsoft or something. Too confusing.
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I agree, I hate Photos, can’t do ANYTHING useful on it, has made life so much worse.
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I am so mad I updated (by mistake) .I am a professional Interior Designer. I have spent 5 years organizing 37,000 photos. I need to see many photos at a time, within many folders. Now we can only preview 1 folder at a time. I don’t even know how to move photos around now. So I have to take a course to learn this? It basically looks like a bad PC computer now. Bravo Mac. I have a huge project due and I now have to spend hours figuring out. Great.
As well my MAC drafting program doesn’t work as well now. So now my time will be spent compensating.
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How do I rename a jpg for posting onto a blog photo. In iphoto you could rename at the point of export from library to a folder for blog posts – but that is not available any more. Many thanks
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i have my iPhoto library on an external hard disk. Now after installing photos when i tried to make my iphoto library to open via photo.. I get a message preparing library … 9% complete … and this has taken almost 2 hours…..
please held
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Have the same problem, except, mine is only 10% complete after 7 (7!!!) hours. How did this worked for you? Did it upload everything fine? Did you just waited like forever for the upload?
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mine uploaded, but now overtime i go to photos and try to open the iPhoto library, it takes hours and hours every time … says its preparing library. wtf?
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Yeah, I waited for a few DAYS (!!) And it finally payed off.😉
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Did you ever get this resolved? I have 15,000 photos (130GB) and it sat at 3% after 15 hours! Did this ever upload for you, or did you try another fix???
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Photos won’t launch for me. shows its running but nothing is happening. I get the screen asking if i want to use iCloud photo library but nothing happens when I click on “not now” or the Blue button
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I can’t drag photo files to my google drive since I upgraded to Yosemite. Help!!! Trying to upload sports photos – this is my volunteer job.
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If it aint broke, don’t fix it…
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Now that I’ve got Photos up and running just fine, should I delete iPhoto and Aperture? They’re still sitting there, taking up a lot of hard drive space.
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since the new photos I am unable to upload anythng to my facebook page, this is causing me problems
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There are no longer events – this is terrible! All my photos are one big timeline and all my photo edits just duplicate so there are 2 of everything. I want iPhoto back!
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I totally agree.
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So far not very impressed. I liked Aperture. I only updated one iMac, I may move all my aperture vaults to that system and Not do the update. I spent a lot of time making projects. After moving to Photo the only things that show up under projects are slide shows. Can’t find my projects anywhere. I had very descriptive names for the projects. Photos does show by date but I like the way I had them organized. Took a number of hours 5+ to start the app after pointing to my library which is 254GB. All pictures seem to be there, just not easy to find or use. Since I paid for Aperture not real happy with the change. I was also a little unhappy when moving from iPhoto to Aperture, but with the improvements in editing overall I was OK. But this seems like a giant step backwards.
I guess the other way to do is ditch Photo and start using photoshop. Right now I have photoshop and use it for some of the more complicated edits as a plug in to Aperture. Didn’t want to have to re-organize again, but since it looks like Apple will make me do that anyway with Photo maybe bite the bullet and go to Adobe.
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Definitely staying away from this app. Basic as it was, iPhoto was totally fine for me to use as an organizational system. I know Adobe has something similar, but iPhoto was free and I hate Adobe products. Photos is clearly not ready for prime time, and I’ll stick with what works and what I know. Same reason my work computer still runs WinXP!
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I entered a pretty negative comment last night after initial upgrade. All that still applies but I did find something I like. Keywords is much easier to use and displaying info about a photo is also much better. I have also upgraded my phone and iPad. It looks like they might see the stuff that was in project files by the name of the project. There are a number of projects listed some with a few pictures in them many with zero count. Looking at what has been uploaded to iCloud only about 3 GB out of 254 GB have been uploaded. So maybe they will show up after the long upload. Looks like it will take a few days for that to happen. This was the same as the first time iTunes Match uploaded. So I’ll report back after that and update my assessment.
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I migrated to Photos a week or so ago and it was definitely a step in the wrong direction.
I can’t find any way to add location information to the metadata. It was easy in iPhoto using the Info panel and the map/satellite display to simply drop a pin to indicate where the picture was taken. Or for pictures taken in the same location it was easy to copy and paste location information to a photo. For those pictures containing location information there is no option for the satellite view, just a very crude map.
Also missing is being able to right click on a thumbnail to edit the picture in another application. I use Photoshop Elements for editing and reducing jpeg file size to save bandwidth when attaching a jpeg to an email. Apple has now made that a little bit more inconvenient.
I hope Apple has Version 1.1 of Photos on the front burner with the intention of introducing some of the things that are missing.
If you haven’t made the move to 10.10.3, hold off until Photos is a usable application.
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THIS APP IS AN INSULT TO APPLE. Where is my original Aperture library? After the auto migrate, I have lost my Aperture library. Years of hard work. where is it now? And after looking at Photos, I will not be using it. What a step down from Aperture. What an insult to Apple customers! Answers please Apple!!!
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I got a major problem after the upgrade. I can’t access my Photos!!!
It says “Photos must quit because the photo library has become corrupted or its data is corrupt.”
HELP!!! I need to get my Photos!!!😦
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Hey 9to5 – aren’t the problems with Photos worth a bit of investigation? I tranferred my Aperture library and it’s had the following effects:
1. Lost thousands of image edits and adjustments. Levels, saturation, masking, just hundreds of hours of work.
2. Organisation all screwed up – my projects and their albums are still there, but they’re now hidden within “iPhoto events” in the main menu – and they’re unavailable as sync options, for example, with iPhone. (But random albums *do* appear in the main screen… mostly smart albums from Aperture…)
3. Tags and ratings mostly lost (I knew about this “turn ratings and flags to keywords” issue, but it’s worse than I thought.
Worse still, while I appreciate Apple is sunsetting Aperture, I paid for that thing! First, I discovered that my Aperture library was no longer available in iTunes as a source for syncing photos. Then I realised it was out of the screensaver pref pane (although iPhoto remains available…)
And now, when I re-open Aperture to start using it again as my default photo library after the above disappointments… Everything has gone! It’s entirely empty.
Apple’s “it just works” philosophy has been slipping for years. But to have software I paid for borked in this way – it’s really, REALLY bad.
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To make things worse: Adobe Lightroom 6 appears to be only available as a cloud program, not standalone. Lightroom 5 is still available, but without the improvements, and for how long?
More Aperture, Pleeeease!
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I cannot stand “Photos” – it is extremely un-user friendly, I cannot do all the useful things I used to do, it is SO unhelpful and rubbish – why oh why or why? I profoundly regret agreeing to the update.
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Yeah, this is the new normal for Apple. I used to update as soon as any update appeared, now I wait a long time, sometimes years to update the OS and apps because it seems like every step they take is the wrong direction—dumping functionality at every turn.
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the titles of my photos did not transfer to photo my iPhoto – how can i get them to transfer
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With the photos app how do you create a photo cd? It used to be seamless and painless not so much anymore!
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This is awful. I had no idea this would happen when I “upgrade” to Yosemite. Now it seems that I have lost many many years worth of pictures because I can’t find them. I have no idea what has happened to the many thousands of photos I had on aperture.
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is Photos going to be upgraded to do more advance things? Now (5/29/15) It seems very elementary and unable to do most of what I could do on aperture. I am not a professional, either. I have a LOT of pictures and it’s looking like my new computer won’t be able to accommodate them. Very, very disappointing.
Not to mention in looking for help online, photos is a word that is found in many references, unlike the word iPhoto which was unique and made searches easier. What good is great picture quality when you can’t move your past work from your old computer to a newer one?
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I have been reading the comments and have to agree…I was completely fine with iPhoto. I use FB a lot for business and it was very easy to upload a picture from my iPhoto library. Now, when I click on “add a photo” from FB, it will pull up the new Photo file, but not all the pictures that are IN the photo file will even show up. Example: In one folder I have 25 pictures, but when I try to “add a photo” from FB and pull up that folder, only 6 of the pictures even show as an option to add. What in the world? In the actual Photo app all the pictures are there…labeled and all, but aren’t showing when needing to add them on FB😦 iPhoto was so much easier and all the pictures always showed up! Sigh……
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Why would anyone want to downgrade to Photos? Perhaps people hate their smart albums and want them ruined—if so, Photos is for them.
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how do you find “hidden albums” or photos? did they not migrate? nothing in the “help” gives any clue.
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i cant even open PHOTOS i get this message “Photos cannot find the System Photo Library named “Photos Library.photoslibrary”
Please help me someone !
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Hello I have just loaded Yosemite … photos has never progressed beyond 24% loading from iPhotos, i have left the update running for hours. I can’t access my photos… what can i do?
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I hate it. I miss iphoto and how easy it was to organize, to edit, to find what I was looking for. This app is not as user-friendly in my opinion and I am so worried that I have lost some photos somehow in the transfer. Unhappy with this change. I really hope that mac Photos improves RAPIDLY. Big thumbs down.
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I didn’t realize this change was happening. I have no idea where my iPhoto photos went! Thank goodness I saved most in other folders in another location. I’m extremely frustrated with this change. It really screwed up my photo filing system! I don’t know how to recover my old iphoto stuff either. I’m just glad I kept all my current photos on my phone or I would have lost a ton of family pictures!
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Hello All- Somehow iPhoto’s update started on my computer and it has been updating for over 15 hours. Is this normal? I do have a few thousand photo’s but 15+ hours? I can’t shut down or open iPhotos. Can someone please reply to this ???? Thanks.
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Pity I live where I can’t get more than ADSL-1 speeds & don’t have unlimited broadband to upload my 70GB of photos/movies to the Cloud. A NAS would be better.
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Downloaded my Iphoto Librarary to an external hard dirive to increase space. Then downloaded Yosemite (after deleting Library on Imac). It’s a crime that Apple didn’t put a warning of the effect of trying retreive images so stored ( I would never have ‘upgraded’). Obviously, I’m not the only one who got what I can only politely call the shaft, if the company can’t make transitions seamless, they are in trouble. A good idea, poorly delivered. There is probably a solution – to somehow open the Iphoto Library & retreive & reorganize images, but the time loss & fustration, so far, is absurd.
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how do I import a photo book from Aperture?
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